Atty. Winston Intong, 5 others nabbed for alleged drug trafficking
BUKIDNON ONLINE | BUKIDNON NEWS | MALAYBALAY CITY | VALENCIA BUKIDNON – Newly installed Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) regional director Roberto Opeña led a raid last June 22, 2011 and, along with other narcotics agents, arrested a Bukidnon-based lawyer and 5 others in separate buy-bust operations.
Opeña’s report to PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. stated that they arrested suspects Bukidnon lawyer Winston Intong, 43, of Malaybalay; dentist Lingling Garcia, 44, of Valencia; student Michael Sausi, 26, of Valencia; and Dante Rey Evangelista, 42, a businessman-farmer from Pangantucan town.
According to news reports, the raids were reportedly staged at Purok 11, Poblacion in Valencia City and Barangay 9 in Malaybalay City at around 3 pm and 8 pm, respectively.
Authorities say that Intong was included in PDEA’s list of targets. The others who also got arrested were “caught in the act” while inside Atty. Winston Intong’s office.
Atty. Winston Intong is from Malaybalay City, Bukidnon.
According to the PDEA, Atty. Winston Intong allegedly sold a sachet of suspected shabu to a PDEA undercover agent.
Among those recovered from the scene of the raid were 2 medium-sized sachets of suspected shabu, a medium-sized sachet of suspected cocaine, five yellow tablets and three green tablets, believed to be “Ecstacy,” and other paraphernalia. Opeña alleged that these belonged to the lawyer.
Meanwhile, in a separate buy-bust operation conducted in Malaybalay City, PDEA elements arrested Virgilio Dapac Jr. a.k.a. Jongbats, 32, of Market Side, Barangay 9, Poblacion, Malaybalay, and an alleged buyer identified as Ruel B. Abella, 33, of Carmen Ville Subdivision, Casisang, Malaybalay.
According to Opeña, Dapac was caught after he sold an elongated sachet of suspected shabu to a PDEA agent who posed as a buyer.
According to authorities, the suspects will be charged with violation of RA 9165.
We have not met Atty. Winston Intong in person but we do know that the Intong surname is among the prominent ones in the province. Does anybody have an idea who he is? How long has he been a lawyer?
